plaguingvsplaningWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: plaguing is a noun, planing is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“plaguing” is a noun and “planing” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#43,313
“plaguing” frequency rank
#39,030
“planing” frequency rank
82343
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plaguing planing
Definition annoyance; harassment present participle and gerund of plane

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set plaguing and planing apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
plaguing
7 ch
planing

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: plaguing is anoun and planingaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 82343, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plaguing is recorded at frequency rank #43,313, classified as anoun. planing is at rank #39,030, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈpleɪnɪŋ/.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 82343, this pair ranks #15,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of plaguing vs planing

Shared letters: agilnp. Private to "plaguing": u. Private to "planing": -.

"plaguing" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC  ·  "planing" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plaguinglpaguing · palguing · plagguing · plagiung · plaguign · plaguingg · plaguinng · plagunig
  • planinglpaning · palning · plainng · planign · planingg · plannig · pllaning · plnaing

Frequency comparison

plaguing#43,313
planing#39,030

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plaguing" and "planing" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "plaguing" is a noun and "planing" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "plaguing" or "planing"?
"planing" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #39,030 in our English list, against #43,313 for "plaguing". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering plaguing vs planing

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “plaguing”; for a verb, it's “planing”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “plaguing” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list